Work Christmas (err.. Holiday) Party: White Elephant Gift Exchange

[hakuna matata]

Maybe I should buy some lotto scratchoff tickets, that would be be potentially be more effective for some coworker's retirement

Way back when my family (brothers and sisters) exchanged gifts, I drew my older sisters name and that is what I did. Where she lived didn't have the lottery at the time, so I got her some lottery tickets and a bottle of wine and a card saying use the wine to celebrate if you win, and/or drown your sorrows if you don't. Needless to say she didn't win!

 

[Walt34]

We didn't have those parties at work, but a relative did for a while. I always bought a bottle of wine or a gift card to a local grocery store. Everybody buys stuff at a grocery store. I figured everybody either drank wine or knew someone who did, but apparently I was mistaken.

 

[spud99]

This is a pet peeve of mine. To most people "white elephant" means anything laying around the house. The solution is if you are going to have a party either make it a "white elephant" party and no dollar figure even mentioned OR just call it a gift exchange with a $15 gift value. It helps to greatly reduce the confusion.

 

[Meadbh]

The ones at restaurants were the worst (invariably, terrible crowd food) while the potlucks in the actual office, where we all brought our favorite things to eat, were the best.

I attended a (non-w*rk) potluck today. The organizers assigned everyone to bring either entrees, desserts or beverages, but there were three different types of meatballs, two salmon dishes, and no green veggies, so it was not a balanced meal. But we had a good time anyhow!

 

[Meadbh]

John Oliver has a few suggestions:

1 day ago - Uploaded by LastWeekTonight
You will receive at least one horrible gift this month. John Oliver has some tips for getting rid of it ...

 

[splitwdw]

We have a white elephant gift exchange at work and a couple organizations that I belong to. I find some ugly thing (search friends and family house there's always some piece of junk) that blends in with all the other ugly things being offered up. I then hide/attach a gift card that goes with whatever group party I'm attending: garden club gets a gift card to local garden center, work people get a gift card to wine store, car club gets a gift card to auto supply store. I just can't give someone a piece of junk. I let the person know that there's a gift card attached so they don't throw it out. The piece of junk that I receive is given to someone else at the party that really likes it "cause I already have one" or it goes in the trash. I usually take special care when I wrap my gifts but not for the white elephant exchange cause people would recognize my package. I do the worst wrapping job I can manage. I make sure that no one sees me drop off my gift. Most people in these organization know by now that there's a "real" gift in with the junk and other people have started doing this. People are now trying to keep the junky gift that they picked cause it might have a gift card attached. This year I taped a Starbucks gift card to the bottom of a can of cookies that I stole from my girlfriend, no one looks at the bottom of the can. I also stole a 4 pack of toilet paper from a sister's house, slit the plastic wrapping and inserted a gift card inside. So have some fun with the gift exchange.

 

[EastWest Gal]

Our community band has a potluck Christmas party each year. The White Elephant gift exchange is part of it, and it can be quite fun. This year DH and DS are going, so we have 3 gifts. Two will be used, but nice, (an extra mini crock pot and a ceramic Dickens house) and the third will be a food item, which is always a hit amongst the guys in the group. Gift cards are excellent, especially for things like Starbucks or gas. It was fun to watch the food items get reclaimed by people while the gag gifts were great for laughs.

As band president I'm in charge this year. It's so nice not to be w***ing, I can go early to set up! It is usually a fun evening.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[Amethyst]

There never are any green vegetables, except for sliced-veg trays. But I am not looking for balanced, I'm looking for "Oh, that looks fun to try!"

Anyway, why am I even prattling on...I don't go to these anymore! 34 years of them was quite enough

I attended a (non-w*rk) potluck today. The organizers assigned everyone to bring either entrees, desserts or beverages, but there were three different types of meatballs, two salmon dishes, and no green veggies, so it was not a balanced meal. But we had a good time anyhow!

 

[HFWR]

I attended a (non-w*rk) potluck today. The organizers assigned everyone to bring either entrees, desserts or beverages, but there were three different types of meatballs, two salmon dishes, and no green veggies, so it was not a balanced meal. But we had a good time anyhow!

Wine is a vegetable...

 

[Amethyst]

For a fact, wine is a fruit! Healthy either way

That doesn't change the fact that DoD rules prevented us from ever opening the gift bottles on-site. Then again, probably just as well. I cannot drink so much as a drop and still drive, so I would've had to crash in the office overnight.

Wine is a vegetable...

 

[kaudrey]

Yes, you should just embrace it as $15 spent on entertainment. Our party often sees several of the same gifts re-distributed year after year - it's kind of an in-joke at this point. But it's funny to see what people want to steal - especially if some of the silly items would be good for kids....it's the holidays - don't be a Scrooge!

 

[rodi]

Our holiday gift exchange was pretty fun. But the things that moved were very specific:

- booze (wine/beer/hard stuff)
- gift cards to home depot or best buy or starbucks
- tool sets
- chocolate
- booze.

We did the game where you could steal a previously unwrapped gift - so the non-drinkers didn't have to worry about getting stuck with booze. The booze was ALWAYS stolen the max number of times.

I used to joke it should be called the booze exchange.

Gifts that didn't go ever well
- nads (a hair removal product)
- protein powder supplement
- various decorative items/scented candles.

 

[38Chevy454]

So I decided to just get the lotto tickets, $10 and $5 scratch-offs that are both Christmas holiday themed, nothing against work rules for this type gambling

I will update this after the potluck and gift exchange to let you all know how it went. I do have a cheesy hash brown casserole dish I am bringing that seems to be a favorite of my co-workers, no worries about any leftovers! So I already know that the food part will go over well. Have to get up extra early to put it in oven to bake though

 

[Sunset]

We have a white elephant gift exchange at work and a couple organizations that I belong to. I find some ugly thing (search friends and family house there's always some piece of junk) that blends in with all the other ugly things being offered up. I then hide/attach a gift card that goes with whatever group party I'm attending: garden club gets a gift card to local garden center, work people get a gift card to wine store, car club gets a gift card to auto supply store. I just can't give someone a piece of junk. I let the person know that there's a gift card attached so they don't throw it out. The piece of junk that I receive is given to someone else at the party that really likes it "cause I already have one" or it goes in the trash. I usually take special care when I wrap my gifts but not for the white elephant exchange cause people would recognize my package. I do the worst wrapping job I can manage. I make sure that no one sees me drop off my gift. Most people in these organization know by now that there's a "real" gift in with the junk and other people have started doing this. People are now trying to keep the junky gift that they picked cause it might have a gift card attached. This year I taped a Starbucks gift card to the bottom of a can of cookies that I stole from my girlfriend, no one looks at the bottom of the can. I also stole a 4 pack of toilet paper from a sister's house, slit the plastic wrapping and inserted a gift card inside. So have some fun with the gift exchange.

That is the spirit, having fun making up the gift.

Best one I ever did was I got wooden wine crates from the wine store (for free). It held 4 or 5 bottles, so I bought cheap wine (there is some for $3 that you can drink) and put it into the crate.

Folks were blown away by the sight of it, as it looked like a really expensive gift and was still useful for drinking/cooking.

The fun I had coming up with the idea, then wrapping it and sneaking it into work so few witnesses was worth it.

 

[splitwdw]

That is the spirit, having fun making up the gift.

Best one I ever did was I got wooden wine crates from the wine store (for free). It held 4 or 5 bottles, so I bought cheap wine (there is some for $3 that you can drink) and put it into the crate.

Folks were blown away by the sight of it, as it looked like a really expensive gift and was still useful for drinking/cooking.

The fun I had coming up with the idea, then wrapping it and sneaking it into work so few witnesses was worth it.

I really enjoy fun gifts. A friend stopped over to show me the white elephant gift that she got at her party yesterday. It was a can of paint from the leftovers at Home Depot. Really ugly color and no one tried to steal it from her. There was a $50 gift card taped to the bottom. She was blown away because their gifts were suppose to be $15. She did try to find out who did the gift in case they made a mistake with the 50 card but no one owned up to it.

 

[38Chevy454]

The party came out OK, had about twice as much food as people could eat. The gift exchange was similar to years past, some nicer gifts and few useless ones. I ended up with a set of four stemless wine glasses, something I can potentially use, or regift without looking like a regift item. There was not too much of stealing gifts as past years. Worse gifts were a bio book about Michael Jackson (the singer), a slot machine coin bank, and a grow your own banana plant kit (yes, for the fruit bananas). My lotto tickets did not help the person retire early, but they were a hot item stolen a couple times.

 

[harley]

The party came out OK, had about twice as much food as people could eat. The gift exchange was similar to years past, some nicer gifts and few useless ones. I ended up with a set of four stemless wine glasses, something I can potentially use, or regift without looking like a regift item. There was not too much of stealing gifts as past years. Worse gifts were a bio book about Michael Jackson (the singer), a slot machine coin bank, and a grow your own banana plant kit (yes, for the fruit bananas). My lotto tickets did not help the person retire early, but they were a hot item stolen a couple times.

My FiL had a slot machine coin bank. When he died it was one of the most fought after items amongst the grandkids.

 

[38Chevy454]

My FiL had a slot machine coin bank. When he died it was one of the most fought after items amongst the grandkids.

This one was a cheap sheetmetal painted thing, let's just say it was not one of the stolen items.

 

[gretah]

Consider $15 the cost of being a sport about a game you don't particularly care for.

$15 to support people you work with all year long so they can have a little fun at the office.